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Was Parker’s win over Ruiz better for Heavyweight division?

December 11th, 2016 - Comments Closed

By Gerardo Granados: Last Saturday I got up at 3 AM to watch the Andy Ruiz vs. Joseph Parker bout, and through the day I saw many fights. Some of those fights were really good, some were ugly mismatches, a couple of great knockouts and one epic battle. To me the boxing year could not have closed any better and we still will get to see Bernard Hopkins fight for the last time against Joe Smith Jr next Saturday.

I was disappointed with Joseph Parker performance; it was like he knew he had the lead before the first bell rang. As Andy Ruiz stated at an interview prior to the fight that he felt he was 2 points behind in the score cards already.

Parker boxed smart-cautious, clinched on the inside (fouled) to negate Ruiz to work inside where Andy is most dangerous and also Joseph constantly moved out of range. Parker respected Ruiz´s punching power but looked like if he wasn’t fighting for the vacant WBO heavyweight strap at stake, but instead as if he was the champion and Ruiz had to take the belt from him.

I saw Andy Ruiz win by two rounds but the fight was close and as the reader knows, the home field advantage often gets you the win when the fight is close as in this case.

After the fight ended I read a tweet from BOXNATION that quoted BOXNATION – ESPN boxing analyst Steve Bunce that read “Let’s be honest, Parker winning is better for the Heavyweight division. It’s good for boxing”. I replied “What do you mean Mr. Bunce? How is it “better”? Then Mr. Steve Bunce replied to me “Where was the fight? Where was the money? It’s a business”. So I finally replied “so then you mean it was better for the Companies promoting Parker, but was it better for us the fight fans?”

We all know Pro Boxing is a business, but aren’t other professional sports too? Hey can you imagine my beloved New York Yankees to win just because it is good for business and television ratings? Shouldn’t it be better for business to see Real Madrid FC and the Manchester United dispute the UEFA Champions League final because it is better for business?

I think it would have been better for business to see Joseph Parker fight his heart out to beat a willing to fight Andy Ruiz, instead of fight the way he did. I mean if Ruiz had not pressed the fight being the aggressor, there wouldn’t have been any fighting at all.

It would have been better for business to see a championship bout being fought by two warriors willing to trade punches and to take risks; just the way the Body Snatcher Dillian Whyte and Dereck Del Boy Chisora did last Saturday afternoon.

The buildup of the Chisora vs Whyte fight was great and you could easily sense legit bad blood between both fine sons of boxing. There were bets on which round one of them would be disqualified, but they behaved very well and kept a clean fight till the last bell rang.

Chisora and Whyte delivered an epic battle, for sure a fight of the year nominee and certainly the best fight in the heavyweight division that I have seeing in a very long time. There was no fancy belt at stake, but they fought their heart out to prove who the best of them was. This is how the heavyweights and all boxers should perform. I had to watch it again to score it and I have it 115-113 for Chisora.

By the way Parker fought, I doubt he made new fans around the world. I rather watch Whyte rematch Chisora on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko, than watch Parker´s next fight.